Welcome to my little spot on the World Wide Web. It started out as a personal site with a museum attached, then turned into a museum site with a few personal pages, and now it's back to a personal site, with museum host duties deferred to the Amazing Kevio. Just in case you're wondering why I should deserve the title "Almighty Todd", the answer's simple; I thought of it first...
The Authorized
Museum of Guitar History!
I was born in San Luis Obispo, California where the Ernie Ball Musicman guitars used to be made. I grew up in nearby Morro Bay. My father taught Spanish at the local high school and coached tennis. No recuerdo mucho Español and I've only played tennis a few times in the past twenty years. I completed my computer science degree during my assignment to the Naval Training Center, San Diego as a Yeoman Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy. Prior to that, I had held a variety of jobs including disc-jockey, donut shop manager, and salesman.
I have been a professional software developer since 1992. I worked for various companies in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, working on projects ranging from children's educational software, to pipeline engineering inspection. I took a little break from this line of work between June of 2002 and June of 2004 (...not by choice). During that time I drove a semi-truck, sold guitars at Guitar Center, and stocked shelves at ShopKo. I was fortunate to break back into my career of choice when I found a position with the Health Benefits sector of ADP. From there, I seized on an opportunity to work for a company known for making dreams come true, the Walt Disney Company. I have relocated to Orlando Florida, and I work on software used to schedule Disney Cast Members at the various parks and resorts.
I've been playing guitar since 1975. In 1980
I was in a band called "KICK"
. We recorded an album
to vinyl and I wrote one of the eight songs on it. I'm on the left end. That's my kid brother,
Aaron just to the right of me holding his Carvin Bass guitar. Follow the
link to see
more pictures
of myself and the band.
My favorite resource for guitar
on the Web is
Harmony Central
. If you have any interest at all in
electric guitars, you've got to check out the Ed
Roman Guitars web site. My first electric guitar was a
no-name Japanese plywood body guitar that I bought used for twenty dollars
with amp. My first "real" electric was the Carvin DC150 seen in the picture
above. I played it through
a silver-face Fender Twin Reverb amp, with an MXR distortion box in front,
and JBL speakers housed in the Fender Tone Master cabinet shown in the picture
at the bottom of this page. I sold the guitar and the amp in 1982. I also
owned and sold a Hondo II Les Paul copy. In 1987 I bought a Synsonics "Explorer"
shaped guitar, complete with built in amp and speaker, from Toys R Us. I've
owned a Yamaha FG-345 acoustic flat top since 1978.
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I'm restoring two abused Carvin V220T's that I found in pawn shops in the Salt Lake City area during the 90's. Both were originally black; one with gold-plated hardware. I've decided to call them, "Thing One" and "Thing Two" after the characters from Dr. Seuss' "The Cat In The Hat". Thing One is a 1985 model with chrome hardware. I originally planned on returning it to its original black, but now since Thing Two has come along, I'm considering the USA flag paint scheme shown in the mock-up image below. Thing Two is a 1984 model with gold-plated hardware. The major damage to this instrument was found on the fretboard. It has been repaired, with epoxy resin and a new fret was installed by a professional luthier. Both of these American made guitars were purchased with their original hard-shell cases by my wife, who negotiated prices of less than $100 for each. Follow this link to read more details and see more pictures of Thing One and Thing Two... |
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On
the left, I'm sitting on a Carvin Nomad 50 watt tube amp connected to a Fender Tone Master cabinet, playing Thing One. On the right, I took
Thing Two to my part-time job at MARS Music one night and did some
jamming on stage. Click here to listen to a little bit of what I sound like... (M-PEG 3 format) |
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Almighty Todd (
Action figures sold separately)
Last update: June 2007